UF Baseball 2025

The Gators get a much softer schedule this year. It's still got the structure of a Sully schedule: usual suspects in the midweeks, the non-con series are 2 teams the Gators should beat 5 out of 6, Miami, and then a series against a lousy team. The 5/6 teams are appreciably worse, the lousy team really is lousy, and the conference schedule is only "very tough" not "extremely tough".

Specifically, ignoring home-away and the 37/56 opponents that are common between the 2024 and 2025 schedules, we get (ratings are the Massey Composite: Massey Ratings - College Baseball Rankings):
New Series: Air Force (129), Dayton (162), Harvard (253); Alabama (30), Texas (34), Ole Miss (59)
Old Series: St. John's (71), St. Mary's (96), Columbia (138); TAMU (2), Kentucky (3), LSU (14)

An exception is the one midweek change: Georgia Southern (61) replaces Bethune-Cookmnan (229)

 

UPDATED: Open Fall Baseball to Start Tuesday, Oct. 8 - Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida baseball team officially begins fall practice on Tuesday, Oct. 8 at 4 p.m. at Condron Family Ballpark with the gates open to all fans.

 

Hope they post the weekly schedules again.

 

I'm sure it will be somewhere but with all the rain coming it might not be until the last hour. Its rare to get a post more than 3 days out so maybe with the date change they are trying to get their best shot at a full practice for the opening.

 

I’m talking about the twitter posts they did weekly, usually on Mondays or Tuesdays (maybe Sundays or Mondays?) that showed the plans for the week. What days they’d have practice only, practice and scrimmage, or just scrimmage. Rain can change things, but it gives you an idea of what the week is supposed to look like.

 

Fall Baseball Practice Kickstarts Tuesday - Florida Gators

Here's a better idea.
------Date Practice Scrimmage
Monday, Oct. 7 OFF OFF
Tuesday, Oct. 8 4:00 PM YES
Wednesday, Oct. 9* 2:30 PM* YES*
Thursday, Oct. 10* 2:30 PM* NO*
Friday, Oct. 11 OFF OFF
Saturday, Oct. 12 10:00 AM YES
Sunday, Oct. 13 5:00 PM YES
*Schedule is subject to change due to developing tropical weather
**Scrimmages begin approximately 90 minutes to two hours into each practice

 

Matside posted the twitter post on the other thread. Thanks!

 

This thread seemed the best place for this post.

D1 Baseball does a biennial ranking of the top college baseball programs and will post the current top five soon, probably Tuesday. I anticipate that group will be SEC teams- it's easy to name the five important programs they haven't named, it's harder to name the order. My guess:

5. Vandy
4. Arkansas
3, Tenn
2. LSU
1. Gators​

I may have Tenn and LSU in reverse order. Tenn deserves a high ranking for two good years, but they're newcomers around the top. LSU slipped some in '24 and didn't make the CWS, but they're awfully good as a program. Given the Gators finishing at 2 and T3 the past two years, I don't see how the inconsistent regular season in '24, takes them out of the top spot.

 

Florida is #3
I assume it will be LSU and now TN at the top. Some of this I question as no way Virginia is the 6th best program in the country. Texas program is also better overall than A&M based on entire body of work.

 

I agree about Virginia. My guess is they wanted to avoid showing too much SEC love- moving Va to #9 would give the SEC the top 8 and Va generally is competitive with teams ranked close to them. Texas arguably has the best history in college bsb, which their write up acknowledges, and the current status certainly is top 15 and rising. However, aTm has the stronger recent history. The article makes a vague comment about ranking program performance over the past 6-10 years.

Yes, the Gators were ranked #3, which is very nice. In past rankings the Gators have done well, too, 2022 Rank: 4. 2019 Rank: 1. 2017 Rank: 1. 2015 Rank: 3. Plenty of people who post here are bored and dissatisfied with Sully's inability to be #1 every year, but I feel we ought to be pleased to be so consistently good. I'm not sure Tenn deserves #2. They have had two excellent seasons in a row, but their 2022 rank was #17, 2019 was #69 and before that they were out of the top 100. If Vitello takes a big offer somewhere else, they may fall fast. For now, they're earning the praise they get.

The final five were:

#5 Ark
#4 Vandy
#3 Gators
#2 Tenn
#1 LSU​

Here are excerpts from the comments on the Gators:

Kevin O’Sullivan has created an absolute monster during his tenure in Gainesville, and the Gators moved up one spot from No. 4 to No. 3 in our latest ranking of the nation’s premier programs. To give you an idea what kind of culture the Gators have, look no further than last season. UF entered the 2024 campaign with high expectations. But for a myriad of reasons, they didn’t reach their full potential until the tail end of the season. Not only did the Gators squeak into a Regional, they won a Super Regional and made yet another trip to the College World Series. You also could argue they were a Jace LaViolette catch at the wall away from playing for a national title for a second-straight season...

The Gators are synonymous with Omaha and the College World Series, and this program remains in excellent shape with an incredibly rich recruiting ground, a fantastic overall facility, and a tradition over the past decade that is only rivaled by a couple of programs in our sport. O’Sullivan is the epitome of consistency in the modern era of college baseball.​

 

I think we are going to see Vandy move back in the rankings as well. Once new scholarship format is implemented, they no longer will have advantage they had in past with extra scholarships. What Corbin has done is amazing no doubt, but he will be retiring soon.

 

​

 

This is a good thread to mention the only significant improvement Gator baseball needs, other than long-term issues: attendance growth and more parking. The one thing that bothers me most is the mediocrity of the concessions. It's not bad, just a mediocre selection, slow lines and prices that range from bad to worse. I took the most important point of the article is that current NFL examples demonstrate concessions can be made more profitable at moderate prices.

Sports concession prices are outrageous. Team owners can change that.

 

There was better food at the Mac.

And who is going to leave their seat to walk to centerfield and stand in line for something that might be a little better?

 

The array of items offered at the blue tent in the center of the Mac plaza made a critical difference. While they had a nice menu, rthe difference is illustrated by my two favorites: sausage dog (with grilled peppers and onions) and jambalaya. Neither of those are available at the new park, both would be offered in any imaginative ballpark concession system. I like that the article suggests haveing local eateries operate independent stations, a practical extension of what now is limited to food trucks.

I HAVE taken the long walk to center field and tried a few items, usually good, always very expensive. I can reccommend the $10 soft-serve chocolate ice cream cone as very tasty and the best value.

I'll put my complaint in context. I love the ballpark, the team is consistently great. The overall baseball experience is very good...but I still want more Gator home runs, runs scored, stolen bases, bunts, opponent strikeouts and more sunny days, PLUS better food at good prices. Really, is that too much to ask?

 

Reasonable prices for both tickets as well as concessions will go hand in hand with creating consistently larger crowds at least IMHO.

 

I would add the team store is a joke. It's the size of a closet.

 

The shop is just the right size to fit their overall effort made to market baseball. One need only watch televised SEC games to envy our rivals' baseball ambiance. I'm not comparing our situation to noles or scUM, but last season's visits to Clemson and OkSU showed other attractive environments. Our product on the field is superior, the facility has a great future, but the non-baseball, fan-experience part of the system falls somewhat short. I cetainly prefer that to having the reverse. Ironically, I perceive the shortcomings as opportunities that would generate good revenue.